Cotton-working machine



H. W. OWEN COTTON WORKING MACHINE Dec. 29 1925.

Filed Jan. 19, 924

Patented Dec. 29, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,567,611 PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT W. OWEN, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T SACO-LOWELL SHOPS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

COTTON-WORKING MACHINE.

Application filed January 19, 1924. Serial No. 687,389.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TIERBERT W. OWEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful, Improvements in Gotton-Working Machines, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to machines for preparing cotton for subsequent manufacturing operations and more particularly to the cleaning of cotton. The invention is especially concerned with the beating of cotton, and it has for its chief object to improve the construction of heaters with a View to increasing their efficiency and effectiveness and enabling them to remove dirt and foreign materials more completely from the cotton than has been possible in prior constructions.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings, the single figure is a longitudinal, vertical, cross-sectional view of a machine known commercially as a lapper, this machine being modified to embody the present invention.

The machine shown comprises a feed lattice 2 associated with suitable supports for laps 3, 4, 5 and 6. The cotton unwound from these laps is delivered by feed rolls 77 to a heater 8 revolvingin a casing 9. From this beater the cotton is conveyed to the usual condensers which include condensr screens 101() through which a strong current of air is created by a condenser fan or blower 12. From the condensers the cotton passes through feed rolls 14 to the lap winding mechanism. As the cotton enters the beater casing, it is struck by the blades of the rapidly revolving beater 8, and these blades throw the cotton violently against agrid 16 which is located immediately below the beater. This action projects the dirt, sticks, leaves, and other foreign material carried by the cotton through the grid into a space 17 almost completely enclosed by a suitable casing. Access to this space is afforded through the usual door 22.

The construction so far described is exactly like that of the ordinary commercial arrangement. It is found in operating a machine of this type, however, that while the dirt and other foreign materials carried by the cotton are initially projected through the grid 16, the lighter constituents of the dirt tend to flow back through the forward part of the grid due, probably, to the presence of eddy currents, or to the draft which is created in the beater casing by the condenser fan 12. The present invention provides an arrangement which, while permitting the free movement of the dirt through the grid from the beater into the space 17, effectually prevents the movement of dirt in the reverse direction.

In the arrangement shown, a roll 18 is located immediately below the forward portion of the grid 16 and extends across the casing for substantially the entire length of the grid, this roll being supported in suitable bearings at opposite sides of the casing. A series of flaps 19 project from the periphery of the roll, and the roll is so located that these flaps sweep past the lower surface of the grid and close to said surface. The flaps may conveniently be made of leather, rubber, or other suitable material, and they sweep past the grids in a backward direction, or reverse to the movement of the cotton over the upper surface of the grid. The roll is driven at a relatively slow speed by a belt connection 20 to the counter shaft 21.

In operation, this roll performs the function of a clearer, keeping the lower surface of the grid free from the dirt which ordinarily collects on the grid bars, and it not only prevents the dirt from travelling upwardly through the forward portion of the grid in the manner above described, but it also appears to assist the normal movement of the dirt downwardly through the grid. In any event, it effectually overcomes the tendency above described of the dirt to work back into the beater casing. A more effectual cleaning of the cotton thus is produced without complicating the construction of the machine in any material degree, and without adding substantially to the expense of manufacture.

While I have herein shown and described the best embodiment of my invention that I have so far devised, it will be appreciated that the invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

Having thus described my iHYGDtlOH, what I desire to claim as new is? 1. In a cotton working machine, the combination of a beater, a grid positioned im- 5 mediately' under the beater and against 0 portion of said grid and closely adjacent to the grid. 7

2. In a cotton working machine, the combination of a cend'e'nser screen, a heater for operating on the cotton before it is delivhorizontally below the forward portion of said grid, a series of flaps carried by said roll and arranged to sweep past the grid in a reverse direction to the movement of the cotton over the grid and closely adjacent to the lower surface of the grid, and means for rotating said roll.

3. In a cotton working machine, the combination of a beater, a grid against which the cotton is thrown by the heater, and a driven clearer mounted inin'iediately below said grid close to the lower surface thereof.

4. In a cotton working machine, the combination of a beater, a grid against which the cotton is thrown by the beater, where- 1 ,ered to said screen, mean for creating a lfiow of air through said screen, a gridlocated nninediately under said beater and by dirt in the cotton is projected through said grid, and a rotary clearer mounted 1mthrough which dirt carried by the cotton is pro ected by the beater, a casing pro- 20 viding an air space below said grid into which said dirt is thrown, a roll located mediately below said grid and close to the lower surface thereof.

HERBERT V. OlVEN. 

